Rotary fountain brush for automobiles



Dec. 29, 1959 R. L. swEARNGlN ROTARY FOUNTAIN BRUSH FOR AUTO MOBILES Filed Oct. 22, 1956 United States Patent O ROTARY FOUNTAIN BRUSH FOR AUTOMOBILES Rowland Leroy Swearugin, Independence, Mo.assignor to Auto Craft Products, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Kansas.

Application October 22, 1956, Serial No. 617,464

2 Claims. (Cl. 15--29) This invention relates to a fountain brush particularly adapted for use in washing automobiles and including as a part thereof a head provided with a rotor, both of which have bristles mounted thereon, and including means for rotating the bristled rotor through the force of water pressure directed to the head and thence to the rotor.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide a rotary fountain brush of the aforementioned character having the parts thereof arranged so that the water emanating from the rotor, and which is used to rotate the latter, is directed into the stationary bristles of the head so that the latter are maintained in a wet condition, together with the bristles of the rotor, at all times during use of the brush.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a rotary fountain brush having a novel means of rotatably mounting the rotor on the head and directing the water to the rotor, all through the medium of a tubular pintle provided with a lateral outlet port and with a plug for holding the rotor in place on the pintle.

Other important objects include certain novel details of construction to be made clear or become apparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a rotary fountain brush for automobiles made pursuant to my present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional View taken on line lI-II of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view still further enlarged and taken on irregular line IlI-III of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, detailed, cross-sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

The rotary fountain brush for automobiles illustrated in the drawing includes, as its essential component parts, a head broadly designated by the numeral and a rotor 12. Head 10 may be circular as seen in Figs. l and 3 and provided with a boss 14 on the normally uppermost face thereof. The substantially radial boss 14 is provided with a liquid inlet passage that includes an inclined branch 16 terminating in a normally vertical, centrally disposed branch 18.

The branch 16 of the liquid inlet passage is tappedto receive a tube 20, serving as a handle and provided with a coupling 22, permitting attachment to an ordinary garden hose. The normally lowermost face 24 of the head 10 is provided with a tubular pintle 26 registering directly with the branch 18 of the liquid inlet passage of head 10.

The rotor 12 includes a circular disk 28 that is centrally perforated to receive the pintle 26 and provided with an annular groove 30 that surrounds pintle 26 when the rotor 12 is mounted thereon as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4. Disk 28 is provided with bristles 32 and the head 10 is provided with bristles 34 depending from the face 24 thereof in surrounding relationship to the rotor 12.

2,918,686 Patented Dec. 29, 1959 The pintle 26 is provided with a pair of opposed slots 36 extending upwardly from the lowermost terminal end thereof, and a plug 38 within the pintle 26 in closing relationship thereto may be tightly fitted within the pintle 26 or otherwise rigidly axed thereto. Plug 38 is provided with a flange 40 bearing against the terminal end of the pintle 26 and against the disk 28 to hold the latter in place on the pintle 26 and within recess 42 of the face 24 of head 10. Plug 38 is also provided with diametrically opposed lugs 44 which extend into the slots 36 but terminate below the inner ends of the slots 36, presenting a pair of lateral outlet ports in the pintle 26 above the upper ends of the lugs 44, the upper ends of the slots 36 communicating, therefore, directly with the groove 30 in the disk 28 of rotor 12.

The disk 28 is provided with a plurality of bosses 46 tangential to the periphery of the disk 28 and each terminating in a shoulder 48 facing oppositelly to the direction of rotation of the rotor 12. An arcuate passage for each shoulder 48 respectively is formed in the disk 28, extending from the groove 30 to the shoulders 48. The passages 50 preferably decrease in diameter progressively as the shoulders 4S are approached.

It is seen from the foregoing that as water is directed into the tubular handle 20 and thence into the branches 16 and 18 of the liquid inlet passage of head 10, it flows into the pintle 26 and thence to the equalizer groove 30 from the outlet ports at the inner ends of the slots 36. The water ows from the groove 30 into the passages 50 and as such water under pressure emanates from the passages 50 at the shoulders 48, the jet action thereof causes the rotor 12 to rotate continuously in a clockwise direction viewing Fig. 3. The water emanating from the passages S0 not only permeates the bristles 34 of the head 10 but is deflected toward the rotating bristles 32 of the rotor 12. A continuous downturned annular skirt 52 integral with the head 10 and surrounding the bristles 34 serves to confine the water emanating from the passages 50 to the bristles 34. When the fountain brush is placed in use considerable pressure can be placed on the bristles 32 and 34 without appreciable retardation of the speed of rotation of the rotor 12 without need of excessive water pressure over and above that normally provided in city water systems.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A fountain brush of the character described having a substantially circular head portion to which is attached at its peripheral edge a downwardly projecting skirt, a boss on the upper side of the head providing means for engagement with a liquid supply means, and a tubular pintle attached to the under surface of said head portion in communication with said boss and having a plurality of notches formed therein, said notches extending upwardly from the lower end of the pintle and through the wall thereof; comprising in combination with said head portion a disc shaped rotor and a flanged plug, said rotor having a central located opening for engagement with said pintle and having a plurality of liquid conduits embedded in said rotor and disposed in a radial direction from said opening to the peripheral outer surface of said rotor and said conduits having their peripheral discharge ends disposed tangentially to said outer peripheral surface, said plug adapted to close the lower end of said pintle, said flange serving to rotatably maintain the rotor in operative position on the tubular pintle by overlapping the same; said flange plug having latterly extending lugs disposed on the peripheral surface thereof and adapted to register with said notches at the lower end of the tubular pintle to maintain a friction lit between said flange 3k plug and said tubular pintle and to prevent rotation of said plug, said inner surface of the cylindrical shaped rotor having an inwardly facing annular groove in communication with said notches of said pintle, said cylindrical rotor having provided on the under surface thereof a surface cleaning means.

2. A fountain brush as described in claim 1 wherein, said rotor is circumscribed by an outer ring shaped surface cleaning means, said means being disposed in the same plane as the rotor cleaning means and disposed on the under surface of the head portion of said brush.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Barth Feb. 15, 1870 Smith Feb. 22, 1921 Foster Sept. 25, 1923 Prueba July 6, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain May 30, 1885 Italy Dec. 20, 1927 France July 27, 1929 

